Seven Days
by TheLastShiningStar
Summary: The battle lasted for seven long days. What were Midoriko's thoughts during those fateful moments of her life?


I don't own Inuyasha

The idea for this story came from my friend and author who's also publishing on this site: 'KiraraGoesMeow'. We kinda exchanged our ideas of stories where we thought the other one would write it better XD.

I hope you will enjoy this story and please let me know what you think about it ;)

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**Seven Days**

Another demon down. It was already third one today and the day hardly begun. They intensified their attacks on me, trying to take me down. They didn't succeed. Yet.

I didn't get much sleep for the past few days and I know that the worst battle is still waiting for me. I'm tired, but I can't rest. I would be killed the second I would let my guard down.

Even now they're watching me, they just have not enough courage to attack me. They're waiting for me to falter, to show some weak point and then they would attack.

I can't allow them to see any weakness in me, that would mean my certain death. I hide my fear, uncertainty and tiredness deep inside and walk through the forest, followed by the evil spirits. They still don't attack, but I feel them closer and closer with every step I take.

One of them gathers enough courage and attacks me. I quickly take care of him. He wasn't that strong. Even the others aren't very strong, but there's too many of them. I'm lucky that they are so stupid. If they attacked me all at once, they might win, or at least they would give me really hard time to defeat them all. Or are they waiting for something?

Maybe there's some plan beyond their actions, but I don't have time or the strength to think about it some more. If there really is some plan from their side, then I will have to deal with it when the time comes.

For now I keep walking. My destination is the source of an enormous evil aura. Here and there some of the following demons attacks me, but I take care of them in no time. Though, it takes my strength away, bit by bit.

Is this their goal? Steal my strength away, so in the end they could defeat me more easily? If they think this will work, they're wrong. Even though I'm not in my best condition right now, I'm not weak. I know I can defeat them. I have to and I won't give up no matter what will happen. Even if I was about to die, I would at least take them down with me, but they can't win. I won't allow it.

Another one comes at me. I use as least strength as I can to defeat him, but he's still down only after one blow. I must save my strength.

As I'm coming closer, the evil aura of the demon waiting for my arrival, is getting stronger. I know he knows I'm coming. While he's still gathering more and more strength, he is using his minions to weaken me by attacking me, now with shorter delay between their attacks than before.

They must be really scared of me to take such means to weaken me. That gives me some confidence. I know this won't be an easy battle, no matter what result there will be in the end.

As my strength is leaving me after each of the defeated demons, I start to fear that maybe I won't make it alive from this battle. But I can't go back. Not anymore.

The evil is too huge and it must be stopped. Now, while I still have some strength left. If I ran away, I know they would keep following me and I would never be able to gain my strength back. I would be just weaker and weaker and in the end they would kill me. With sacrifices only among their lower members.

I must destroy the main evil. Then there should be some kind of peace, at least for a while. And then someone else may take my place. If I survive this, I will take a long vacation. Somewhere far from all the demons. Somewhere peaceful.

I see the cave coming into my view. They're there. Inside this cave. The strongest of strongest. Preparing for our death match.

Although my mind is betraying me, telling me to flee while I still have a chance, in my heart the decision is clear. My mind might be hesitant, but my heart and soul are certain about what I'm going to do. My steps don't falter in the least as I'm closing the distance between me and the fated cave.

I recall the days when I was still young and without any responsibilities. Everything was so easy back then. Even though I've been prepared for becoming priestess since I was able to listen and understand to what I've been told, for a child I've been back then, it was more just a game.

I really enjoyed those days. That carefree time of my life. While I was still just a child, I had a lot of friends. At that time we still had a lot of common interest. That changed as I've been growing up. We all had to take the responsibilities suitable to our positions, but the others still could manage to stay close.

My responsibilities were too different from theirs. I ended up alone. With no one to share my pleasures or worries. No one to talk about my fears or just simply recall the past. That loneliness helped me to become who I'm now though.

Being so alone, I focused on my spiritual and fighting skills. That successfully occupied my mind and I've been getting stronger every day. Soon I've became the strongest priestess in the whole region.

Many people were coming to me for help or for an advice and I always did all what was in my powers to help them out. Sometimes I felt that I would also need some help or advice, but I had nowhere to go. There was no one for me, for my needs. I was still alone.

I learned how to live with that feeling, but sometimes it was just too strong and the only thing which could help me was a long walk in the forest. Sometimes it took me just a while before I went back, but sometimes it took me several days to be able to return to my responsibilities.

Even now, in such situation, I'm alone. I wouldn't want anyone here with me anyway. They would just stand in my way and I would have to look after them, which could cause me quite a trouble. When I'm alone, I can focus only on my goal, with no need to worry about the safety of anyone else.

For today, my goal is to defeat the demon standing in front of me. I'm already inside the cave. He is strong, very powerful. But I'm no weakling either. He isn't an ordinary demon. There was a lot of various demons, before they all joined into just one body. He uses the strength of all of them. He doesn't only have the appearance of a man, but he is partly human. That makes him even more dangerous.

Humans don't give up that easily and they're more fierce in the battle. With the mortal man as a part of his body, he can very well use the human qualities, which most of the demons lack. That could become troublesome, but I cannot let that fact sneak into my mind.

He calls himself Magatsuhi, as he informed me when I stepped into the cave. Not that I would care about that. I'm not here to become friends with him. It wouldn't bother me if I didn't know his name at all.

After a while of his for me absolutely pointless talking, we started to fight. I don't know who moved first. Not that it would matter. A few strikes proved that we were practically equal. There was no winning and no loosing, just pure battle. We focused only at each other. Just a second of inattention could end up in death of one of us.

As we were inside the cave, the only indication of how much time passed was a small hole in the ceiling. I only noticed when there was black, starless sky. The clouds must have covered them, or their light just couldn't go through that small hole. But the dark sky meant one thing. We were already fighting for a whole day and there was no indication of either of us getting the upper hand.

I can't be thinking about that though. I need to focus on the fight. The time isn't important. As long as I can stop this evil being, the amount of time which it takes doesn't matter.

There are some pauses where we can give some rest to our bodies. At these times, we are just circling around each other, watching cautiously what the other will do. For the body it's welcome change, but the mind must work even faster.

During the combat, mind can be replaced by instincts. There's really only a little chance to win a battle when the person doesn't know how to use their instincts. They can't depend only on them though, but that's the only way how to give some rest to the tired mind.

We are now in the middle of one of the body-resting parts. I'm using it to let my tired muscles to relax as much as I can, but only the slightest twitch from his side and our swords are clashing again. Before that I stole a glance to the hole in the ceiling. There was a white light coming through. The night was gone and new day started.

In the outside world there is a beautiful day, completely oblivious about what is going on here and what is about to happen. The battle have lasted for a day and night and during all that time, we didn't even lay our swords on each other.

This way the battle could last for days or weeks. Something has to happen or we'll be stuck here until one of us will collapse from exhaustion. No matter how strong I am or how long I can last, as a demon he will surely last longer. My only chance is to defeat him before that happens.

I focus just on attack and I manage to break through his defense. I'm able to leave quite a deep cut in his chest not far from his heart, but I'm also not left unharmed. He used my attack to his advantage and now I have a deep cut in my left side.

As I jump back away from him, I focus on forcing the pain into the depths of my mind. I can't allow that cut to limit my movements. We return to our routine of steady attacks, charges, dodging and jumping around without any further harms.

When even the second night and third day passed, my tiredness started to get itself known. I was able to keep my eyes open only by my will. My sword was getting heavier and my movements less organized. My opponent noticed that and I lost my left arm.

The pain successfully woke me up from my dozing state and I didn't allow him to hurt me any further. The stub of my left arm is bleeding strongly and I loose my balance for a second. I'm kneeling on my left knee, holding my left shoulder with my right hand, breathing heavily.

He doesn't seem to want to use my current state to his advantage. He's rather enjoying my suffering. He is even mocking me, but I don't listen to his words. I focus on locking the pain and I stand up again. He seems surprised and I smirk. This isn't the end yet.

I know I'm loosing too much blood, but the adrenalin running in my veins, the determination in my heart, the faith in my soul and the duty in my mind don't allow me to faint.

In the morning of the fourth day, the bleeding seems to cease. Even I'm surprised that after such blood loss I'm still able to stand and keep up in the fight, but I don't let him know it. The only emotion he can read in my face is my confidence and determination to win.

I have nothing to loose anymore. What was just a fearful thought at the start, was now starting to become the truth. Now I know that I can't make it out alive. I'm already pushing myself too far. I've crossed the edge a long ago and there's no way back from that state. Once this battle ends, I know that even if I survived it, I wouldn't be able to even go outside the cave.

I'm using all my willpower to move and to attack. At the end of the fourth night, I make almost suicidal movement, but luck stands on my side and I'm able to make a lot of damage on his body, while I myself go from this unharmed. He let's out a scream which is unnatural even for a demon.

He surely didn't expect what I did, but other than the fact that I wounded him, I also made him very angry. He transforms from his human appearance into a huge mass containing the parts of all the demons he was created from and I have to take a few steps back to not be crushed by the weight of his body.

On the part of that mass which is closest to me, a variation of some kind of face appears and I immediately cut it in half. The face disappears but appears somewhere else. He's grinning and mocking me until I cut him again. Neither of these attacks seem to have any effect.

He is making his face appear and disappear, again and again, even when I don't attack it. He is trying to confuse me. When the face is close enough, I cut it, but I don't pursue every one of them.

The faces are of different shape and size. Some are almost human-like and some are just a creatures with their mouth full of sharp fangs. I realize that those are the faces of the demons who decided to join forces and become one in order to defeat me.

Fifth day passes and the lack of constant fight makes me feel my exhaustion and tiredness. All I did for the whole day was watching the faces, listening to them, sometimes cutting them. He didn't take any other action during that time and as the adrenalin is seeping out, I even start to feel dizzy. The pain also makes itself known.

It irritates me, but I can't find any weak spot on his huge body. I know there must be some, but it's well hidden. My eyes are starting to close and before I realize what's happening, one of the faces charges at me and is trying to swallow me. I dodge it at the very last moment and escape from the fate of being devoured just by an inch.

I don't know if he is satisfied or irritated. The night goes by and the light of the sixth day is shining through the hole. I can't believe it's been already so long. Sixth day and we're still fighting. Is there going to be an end at all?

I'm starting to doubt it. The mass of the bodies connected into one is starting to move and it's shape is changing. It looks like a big snake and just like a snake it loops around me and tries to crush me with very firm hold of my body.

I surpass a scream as the pressure is starting to be too much to handle. I raise my sword and cut my way out. He screams in pain and I jump away from him to not end up being crushed again. The screaming part is trying to attack me again, but the other one is lying still on the ground, obviously dead.

The game of cat and mouse is continuing until the late of night. I am able to return most of his attempts to attack me, but at one moment I loose concentration and he holds me in his mouth. The lower part of my body is deep in his throat. His fangs are digging into my waist. My upper body is still outside.

I stab him with my sword into his eye and he again screams in pain. This time it is muffled by my own body. He wants to bite my lower body off, so to baffle his plan, I create a small barrier around myself.

It's not strong enough to get me out of his mouth, but it's enough to keep his fangs in the distance. He's threatening me with his fangs and I'm threatening him with my purification abilities. I have not enough strength to do it anymore though, but at least it keeps us in some kind of steady position.

We stay like this for a long time without any movement at all. Any movement could make the other one react in a way which wouldn't be pleasant. We can see the increasing light outside as the sun is rising, but we still don't move. It's an uncomfortable position, but we both know that the next move we do will be our last.

He doesn't know it, but I'm already at the end with my strength. If he made his action now, he would win. But because he doesn't know it, we both stay still. I'm thinking about some way how to turn the things into better.

In the end, when the light is decreasing again, I think of one way, but that would kill both of us. I don't have any problem with that. I accepted my fate a few days ago already. I start to gather all my powers which stayed inside of me. There's a pitch black outside again, when I'm finally prepared.

I give my opponent a victorious smile which he doesn't seem to accept and at that he bites me hard. I ignore that and focus on my task. With my soul I search for his. I feel the surprise from his part, but I don't stop. When I reach his soul, our souls are starting to becoming one. Before that happens, I force them both out of our bodies and then there's only darkness.

Our souls finish their connection together and I find myself in a dark space together with my opponent. I don't feel any pain anymore. I don't even feel the exhaustion I felt just a short while ago. When I come over the surprise, I recall what happened.

I locked our souls together in a place where neither of us could manipulate the living world directly anymore. There still might be some influence happening, but it wouldn't depend on our will.

He also seems to realize the truth and with that he attacks me again. He is angry at me for doing this to him, but I don't regret it. I fulfilled my duty. I removed the great evil from the world of the living and that's all that matters for now. Even though that it means that now I'm going to continue in this endless battle, probably until the end of all times.

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I let her loose her her left arm because of the picture where she doesn't have it for whatever reason and I also needed something to happen XD.

I know almost nothing about Magatsuhi or his appearance, so some things about him might remind you of Naraku XD. After all, they are quite similar when you think about it XD.


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